The amazing world of LEGO® Technic constructions.
Based on the vision from Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891-1958), a carpenter from Billund/Denmark, whose personal motto was "Only the best is good enough" - Leg Godt (Play Well).

TechnicBRICKs blog (TBs hereafter) is devoted to the LEGO Technic theme and intends to spot mainly on news and developments, rather than new sets reviews or users creations (aka MOCs). However you will also find them here occasionally...

First of all, this is how I think the mLA (the first proposal, shown on the previously mentioned blog post) could be assembled.

The bracket (red) part could be composed of two sub-parts, which are joined together after the axle/sleeve (green) part is inserted.The green part would also need to be composed of two sub-parts, to allow the piston (blue) part to be inserted between them.Finally, the piston (blue) part could be composed of the screw and the pin hole; these two would need to be separate sub-parts again to allow insertion inside the green part.

I found this a bit difficult to explain, and you most probably found it a bit difficult to understand, either. So, if you look at the cutaway image I posted earlier, you'll notice the narrowing at the tip of the green sleeve. This prevents the blue piston from coming off when extending too much, but also requires all these sub-parts to be constructed and assembled.

So, what I thought would be a simple and cheap way to construct mA's turned out to be rather complicated... therefore, let's see the other alternative that was suggested and I modelled. This one is much closer to how "regular" LA's work.

Comparing with the first mLA speculation, instead of the cylinder part being composed of two "layers", the outermost one spinning when the mLA extends or retracts, this proposal has three layers:An external (in red), static one, fixed to the bracket. This allows the mLA to be comfortably held while it is spinning;An intermediate (in blue) one, which constitutes the mLA's piston. It has an internal thread, which mates with the innermost layer.An inner (in green) one, which spins and has on one end an axle (or maybe axle hole) and a screw on the other. This screw is responsible for extending and retracting the piston.

While this design is probably more fragile than the first proposal and therefore quite possibly unable to handle anything but the lightest loads, it is not only not more complicated (the assembly process would be similar to the one above for the previous suggestion) but also it's a lot more realistic.

At first I thought the first speculation was more likely, but after considering what you suggested on the other post, I too am more inclined towards this second possibility! I can hardly wait for next year, when all doubts will be cleared...

Yes, I made them in Rhino. It is advertised as being good to mode jewellery, and for me LEGO is precious enough to qualify. :D

I really hope the mLA has some metal in it (the piston is the best candidate), but I doubt it: four of them on a 50€ set doesn't give much margin for luxuries. A wholly plastic part would weaken it much, to the point that applications like a miniature version of my PF train switch seem a bit unlikely (unless perhaps LEGO replaces the current point lever with a more automation-friendly version with pin or axle hole)... we'll see.

@bazmarc: thanks! The only measure I have of the time I take to make these models is "too much"... I started doing them after dinner and finished around 4 AM. And I already had the first mLA proposal to work from!

@Charlie: the 1H2011 sets aren't even announced yet, and you already want 2H? We have never had so early leaks! :P

TechnicBRICKs often shows other peoples' creations and/or images. We always try to credit the author(s) and link to their main publishing website, and if possible with their name in real life.
Since this is not always possible, we request that if you find something here that is yours or from someone you know, you leave a comment on the respective post and claim the authorship.

TechnicBRICKs is optimized for Firefox 16.0 and 1600x1200 resolution displays or wider.

LEGO® is a trademark of The LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this blog.
LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Brick and Knob configurations, the Minifigure and MINDSTORMS, are registered trademarks of The LEGO Group.
Original LEGO images are copyrighted by The LEGO Group and are used here in accordance with their fair play policy.
You can visit the official LEGO® website at www.LEGO.com.